Wednesday, October 15, 2014

It’s Wolf Awareness Week!Since 1996, this national event has served to educate folks on the roles
wolves play in different natural communities.During Wolf Awareness Week, we encourage you to recognize the importance
of wolves as an integral part of our landscapes and to engage others to become
interested and active in wolf conservation. Many of our partner organizations are hosting
Wolf Awareness Week events and have provided educational resources to continue
spreading the word.

2014 Wolf
Awareness Week Poster by Aaron Yount.

Each year, the Timber Wolf Alliance
hosts an art contest to select the vision for the current year's Wolf Awareness
Week poster. If you’re interested in ordering this year’s poster, you can
request one here.

Wolf Awareness Week is also National
Wildlife Refuge Weekthis year! Since
Theodore Roosevelt established the first national wildlife refuge in 1903, the National Wildlife Refuge System has
become the nation’s premier habitat conservation network, encompassing more
than 150 million acres in 560 refuges and 38 wetland management districts. You
can check out special events and programs through the National Wildlife Refuge
System here.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Red Wolf Recovery Program

The red wolf (Canis rufus) is one of the world's most endangered canids. Once common throughout the eastern and southcentral United States, red wolf populations were decimated by the early part of the 20th Century as a result of intensive predator control programs and the degradation and alteration of the species' habitat. The red wolf was designated an endangered species in 1967, and shortly thereafter the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initiated efforts to conserve the species. Today, more than 100 red wolves roam their native habitats in eastern North Carolina, and nearly 200 red wolves are maintained in captive breeding facilities throughout the United States. To learn more about red wolves, please visit our website at www.fws.gov/redwolf.

[All photos are the property of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and are in the public domain. You are free to use them as you wish - no permission is necessary. However, we ask that you give credit to the photographer and/or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (example, Photo credit: John Doe/USFWS)].